Edge AI May Give Telecoms a Seat at the Table
Data Center Knowledge, Friday, October 30th, 2026
Edge AI could give telecom operators a larger role in AI infrastructure, with metro sites a nearer opportunity than cell towers.
Data Center Knowledge examines how edge AI could raise telecom operators' role in AI infrastructure.
Most inference will stay in hyperscale data centers, but latency, data gravity and cost may push some workloads to the edge.
EnterpriseWeb CEO David Duggal says power and heat make GPUs at cell towers impractical, making metro central offices and regional hubs the clearer near-term opportunity.
IDC's Luis Fernandes says workload type matters more than latency in most cases, and Akamai is deploying GPU edge nodes in telecom central offices.